Ferdinand E. Banks

Chinese Wind Power Developments

Wind makes a lot of economic sense for a country like China. The reason is that - unlike the Swedish government - the Chinese government prefers to listen to smart rather than dumb people, and so it could happen that China will end up with an optimal energy structure in which wind plays an important role.

There is a town in Sweden called Växsjö that is making an attempt to be 100% Green, and seems to be moving rapidly in that direction. People from all over the world visit it in order to bask in its greenness. But Växsjö has done so well because its surroundings are oriented toward nuclear and hydro. It's the nuclear and hydro that gives the green its glow.

If the ignoramuses had their way and eliminated the nuclear, things would be very different for that community.

Will Pickens' Scrapped Project Slow Wind Energy Momentum?

More wind energy is needed, but not as much as Mr Pickens tried to sell, nor dummies in the environmental camp believe is viable. You don't need to know physics, nor engineering, nor economics, nor grade school arithmetic to learn that all the talk about wind is largely a scam - largely but not entirely. Just read what is written about it in reputable newspapers and magazines.

The Obama Effect: Is Clean Energy Outperforming the Market?

If Wall Street is turning down nuclear in favor of 'sustainable', which some people have claimed, then I say to Hell with Wall Street. I'm a democrat and definitely prefer this government to the alternative, but the new president's energy team - which is actually an environmental team - should be ditched as soon as possible.

The Differences Between Chinese and U.S. Economic Recoveries

Interesting article, but too much emphasis on wind and solar. The Chinese don't need to pretend that those two options are going to be extremely important in the short to medium run, as is necessary in the US. When I worked in Hong Kong I didn't hear the kind of nonsense about renewables that I hear in Europe. Maybe it's because the Chinese government has too much respect for its citizens.

How Carbon Caps Will Affect Utilities Sector

Beautiful, I don't know about Spain, but nobody is going to convince me that wind in Denmark and Germany has a brilliant future. In fact, Ms Merkel is one of the most enthusiastic nuclear supporters.

What wind has done is to make electricity in Denmark about the most expensive in the industrial world. Even if you don't read Danish you can find somebody important who will tell you that. As for the wind ambitions of Mr Pickens, the last I heard was that his project was going off the rails because he had a problem finding chumps to put up the billions that it will cost.

How to Trade 'Cap & Trade' Policies - Barron's

I've just written a paper saying that cap-and-trade is a scam. Unfortunately I don't believe it was accepted by SA, but since everything I write is published somewhere, it doesn't make any difference.

Here are two 'bottom line' observations from my article. The CEO of Exxon-Mobile prefers carbon taxes to cap-and-trade, and in the UK emissions from companies that participate in the cap-and-trade farce increased during the first two years of the scheme (and probably the third). What's the point in joining in the promotion of that nonsense?

Three Things Obama Will Do to Advance Alternative Energy

Looks to me as if this short 'article' was written by someone with plans to go long in wind energy. A piece of advice might be appropriate here, and I hope that it is widely circulated. The present emphasis on wind energy is crank, and the sooner it is abandoned the better it will be for the country. .